While 404 is common for "Not Found" pages, I recently noticed that Medium.com is using 410 status codes for deleted stories. What's the difference between the two?
I just read in Wikipedia about the 410, and the difference is that in case of 404 the resource does not exist and never existed. 410 says the resource existed in the past but doesn't exist anymore and it's not always available.
For more info HTTP Status Codes
404 = It doesn't exists, and probably it never existed
410 = It existed here, but it was removed